This Time, There's `D' In Detroit

February 07, 1999|By Bill Jauss, Tribune Staff Writer.

With a description as clean as the six three-point baskets he had just scored, Detroit Mercy sharpshooter Desmond Ferguson explained Saturday night why his team had beaten Illinois-Chicago 69-50 at the Pavilion.

"UIC switched to a zone," Ferguson said. "I'm a shooter. I'm supposed to knock down threes against a zone."

Then Ferguson added the most important point.

"But on our team, defense is No. 1. Nobody plays for us unless he plays defense."

Saturday night's victory improved Detroit's record to 18-5 overall and 9-2 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. It dropped UIC to 7-17 and kept the Flames in last place with a 2-9 record. It also indicated that when Detroit gave up 72 points in a loss to Loyola on Thursday, it was an aberration.

Coach Perry Watson's aggressive, sticky, help-out man-to-man defense was in place Saturday night, except for a 9-minute stretch early in the second half when 6-foot-7-inch freshman Ian Hanavan and 6-11 sophomore Thor Solverson led a UIC surge that pulled the Flames to within a point at 37-36.

That's when Ferguson, who scored a career-high 23 points, slammed the door with his fourth, fifth and sixth three-point baskets. Watson called Ferguson's final three "a dagger" to UIC's hopes.

Detroit's defense was so stifling in the first half that UIC needed Jordan Kardos' desperate 30-footer at the buzzer to reach 18 points.

"But their basket at the end of the half seemed to swing momentum," Watson said. "In the second half, Hanavan took the ball to the hole and they were shooting the bonus after 5 minutes.

"Ferguson's threes at that time were huge. He's supposed to do that. That's his job. He came through when we needed him."

Ferguson's sixth and final three-pointer bumped Detroit's lead to 46-42 at the 11-minute mark. At that point, Detroit's defense clicked in again, and UIC scored only eight points in the remaining 11 minutes.

"We did some good things," UIC coach Jimmy Collins said. "For the first 25 minutes, it was the kind of game we wanted. We were outrebounded (39-27) for the fourth game in a row. But Ian and Thor got us to the bonus in a hurry by going to the basket."

Hanavan's 10 points and 14 rebounds gave him his first career double double.

UIC played without its top scorer and rebounder, senior Bryant Notree. Collins said Notree had a bad back.